Episode 12 - Beyond Here Lies Nothing

Sookie screams as she realizes Lafayette has been taken over by Maryann. Lafayette tells Tara and Eggs that Maryann wants them to bring her the egg. Sookie tries to get through to Tara, but Tara is obviously unreachable. Lafayette orders Sookie to take her clothes off. She stalls at first but quickly strips to her underwear when he screams that he has 1000 year old vampire blood in him. Mmmm, he says as he bends down and pulls a dress out of a paper bag. (At first I thought Eric was channeling himself through Lafayette because it appeared that he was smelling her.) He tells Sookie to put the dress on, which she does, and then he forcefully takes her downstairs to Maryann.

Downstairs, Arlene, Jane Bodehouse, and Tara are dressed in togas and fussing over Maryann who is wearing Sookie’s grandmother’s wedding dress. Maryann is just as happy as a bride on her wedding day should be. Seriously, she is all smiles and sweetness. Unfortunately for Sookie, Maryann informs her that she is to be her maid of honor. Sookie flips out. She seems more angry about her Gran’s dress than frightened about what Maryann has done to everyone. She tells Maryann she has no right to wear the dress but Maryann just says that she knows she should have asked first. Sookie tells her to go to hell but Maryann just asks her to not be so negative, almost as if her feelings are hurt. Sookie tells Maryann that she’s not going to let Maryann get away with everything she’s done. Maryann orders her “bridesmaids” to leave the room so she and Sookie can have a chat.

Instead of going off on Sookie, Maryann asks her to give her the “electricity” again. Sookie doesn’t understand and says she can’t because she doesn’t even know what it was because she had never done it before. Maryann tells her it was like nature itself was shooting from her fingertips and she’d never felt anything else like it before. Sookie attempts to do it; she puts her hands up by Maryann’s face and grimaces and contorts but NOTHING. She finally thumps Maryann on the shoulders and Maryann says “That’s hitting me, you’re not committing to this at all.” Sookie tells her that she doesn’t have electrical powers, that she’s a human being. But Maryann says she’s something more than human because she can’t control her. She does her fluttering thing but nothing happens to Sookie. She asks her again, “What are you?” To which Sookie replies, “I’m a waitress. What the f*** are you?”

Maryann asks Sookie to think back to try to remember a time when she felt like something was watching over her. Of course, Sookie’s response to that is “God”. Maryann laughs and says “You can call it that but it’s not the same one the blind billions worship, and in your heart of hearts, you know it.” Sookie has a flashback to when she threw the chain at Mack Rattray and it wrapped, then tightened around his neck. (Always thought that was kind of strange.) Maryann tells her that she’s beyond human because she can’t channel her energy. She says that‘s very rare but not unique in Bon Temps. Sookie realizes that she‘s talking about Sam and asks if Maryann is marrying him. With disdain, Maryann informs her that Sam is to be a sacrifice to her husband as a wedding gift. She gets choked up just talking about her future hubby. Sookie is shocked by Maryann’s plans for Sam which include cutting out his heart. Finding out that she is the bait to lure him there is just icing on the cake.

Poor Hoyt is at home having a hell of a time keeping Maxine under control. She’s driving him crazy in the process. She calls him Norman Bates because he’s keeping her locked up in the house. (Teehee, too funny!) He has to wrestle her to keep her from leaving. Meanwhile, at the Queen’s mansion, another game of Yahtzee is in progress. Eric is obviously not thrilled about having to play. Hadley seems a little bored with the game, too. The Queen gives a little speech about why Yahtzee is a game of luck and it makes them all equal. (Whatever, I found this little speech unnecessary and aggravating to say the least. We get one hour for the season finale and they give us “Yahtzee, a game of chance, luck, fate, no way to cheat!” Puhleeze!)

She then mentions that Bill is monogamous with his human and Eric replies that Bill “is in love with her”. Hadley perks up and says “He is?” To which the Queen gives her a “shut your trap” look and Hadley ducks her head in fear. The Queen says that Eric probably loves Sookie too, but he says “I do not love humans”. Then the Queen says something odd, she says “She’s not entirely human. Have you tasted her?” He says no and the Queen tells him not to because one vampire being in love with her is bad enough. Then lo and behold, they have a discussion about Eric supplying humans with vampire blood to sell. But, the kicker is that the Queen is the one supplying it, Eric is just the middle man. WOW!!! (Bill is not aware that the blood is supplied by the Queen, only that Eric has Lafayette selling it.) The Queen leaps onto Eric, baring her fangs and tells him he better take care of Bill. Either out of fear or arousal, Eric bares his fangs and they share a brief kiss, but then she tells him she could make herself some earrings out of his fangs. Eric assures her that he’ll take care of Bill Compton, personally.

Back at the wedding ceremony (Sookie’s house), Andy and Jason show up with guns and try to blend in with the crowd. They are soon over taken by Maryann’s minions and become possessed themselves. Inside the house, the ostrich egg is being passed around and everyone is taking turns licking blood off of it. Sookie tries to refuse, but really, she doesn’t have a choice. At Merlotte’s, Bill tries to convince Sam to give himself up to Maryann. Bill bares his fangs and says that he’s not giving him a choice in the matter. Later, he arrives at Sookie’s place, dragging a reluctant Sam with him. Jason bursts into the living room to tell Maryann that her “vessel” has arrived. Sookie is shocked to Jason has been overpowered. Maryann tells Sookie that if she doesn’t cooperate, she’ll kill Jason.

They all parade down the stairs to wedding music and join the other revelers outside. Bill offers up Sam in exchange for Sookie. Maryann agrees to the trade. Sookie is very upset that Sam has been put in danger by Bill. She tries to help Sam but Bill drags her away. Sam is tied to a pole for the sacrifice. Sookie argues and questions Bill about involving Sam. Bill tells her to trust him. Sookie yells for Sam to use his gift but Bill tells her to use her’s. Sookie screams as Eggs plunges a knife into Sam’s chest. In her frightened state, Sookie can hear Sam calling for her. She runs up to him, crying, and saying that she is sorry. He “thinks” to her, “destroy it, all of it.” Catching his meaning, Sookie runs to the meat offering and breaks the ostrich egg. She then knocks the offering over, using a little bit of that “electric” power that comes to her sporadically. Maryann goes nuts and starts fluttering like mad, which causes everyone to cringe in pain.

She then turns her sights on Sookie and tries to chase her down. Sookie falls, but just as Maryann is about to claw her back, a big white bull comes walking up the driveway. Maryann recognizes it has her lord, her husband. It’s not. It is Sam, who has been healed by Bill. Sam takes the opportunity to gore her. He then changes to his human form and pulls her black heart out with his bare hand and squishes it. (Blech!) Maryann shrivels up and dies. Everyone is instantly “exorcised” and looking around dazed and confused. Bill and Sam explain to Sookie that they had planned the whole thing out. Sookie starts giving everybody things to do so that order can be brought back to her home.

Meanwhile, Maxine has come out from under Maryann’s spell. She realizes that Jessica has bitten her and starts yelling at Hoyt. He tells her that he chose her over Jessica and hasn’t talked to her since. Hoyt tells Maxine that she provoked Jessica by saying bad things about her and Hoyt. He tells Maxine about all the things she said about his dad really shooting himself. Maxine doesn’t deny it and says that she told the story about the burglar because she was afraid. Hoyt gets really upset with her and says she used that story to keep him from having any sort of real life. She kept him from moving out, kept him from going to college, kept him from doing anything all because she was afraid of some burglar that never existed. He realizes that she has lied to him all these years and kept him from being an “actual person”. Hoyt tells her that he wishes that Jessica had finished her off, that he hadn’t stopped her and walks out the door.

Back at Sookie’s house, everyone is gathering their wits, and missing body parts, before going home. Jane Bodehouse finds her finger and Jason offers to take her to the hospital. Sheriff Dearborn tells Andy he’s going to give him his badge back. Andy says he’ll never drink again. Bud tells Andy that he might have his faults but at least he has pants on. (Snickers! Bud is standing there in his boxers!) Poor Sam seems to be contemplating how alone he is as he watches a doe nibble on some grass. Bill intrudes on his thoughts to thank him for his help. Sam says “Sookie is safe, you got what you wanted.” Bill says that Sam wanted it too. (Strange conversation, makes me wonder if Sam is a contender for Sookie’s affections in the future.) Bill thanks him for showing his gift for everyone’s sake. Sam says that you suffer more trying to hide something than facing it. (Hmm, Bill had a strange look on his face after that statement and just walks off.)

Inside the house, Eggs is spazzing out about the blood all over his hands and under his fingernails. He’s asking where Maryann is at. Tara is trying to calm him down, but Eggs won’t listen to her. She is telling him that they need to forget the past and start fresh. Sookie comes in and she and Tara talk about them being a family. Tara apologizes for bringing the chaos into Sookie’s home. As it is almost dawn, Bill and Sookie spend a few quiet moments just holding each other.

The next day, the town is abuzz with speculation about what caused the entire town to blackout. Tara makes a comment about Merlotte’s being open and Sam says it’s not just his bar, it’s everybody’s bar. She says will it’s called Merlotte’s and he says, “Well it’s just a name, it doesn’t really say anything about me does it?” The townspeople seem to be getting back to normal and acting like themselves, despite having no memory of the recent events. Andy is mad because he and Jason aren’t getting any credit for saving the town. Jason talks him down and says they are heroes even if no one realizes it. Sam asks Sookie to keep an eye on the bar because he needs some time away. They share a hug but get interrupted by a delivery from Bill for Sookie. He has sent her very pretty lavender colored dress and an invitation for an evening out.

Eggs find Sookie outside of Merlotte’s and asks her to help him remember. She is reluctant to help him because of the terrible things Maryann made some people do. As she is delving into his mind, he starts to remember. He sees himself killing Ms. Jeanette, Daphne, and Sam and totally freaks out about it. Sookie tells him not to blame himself but he runs off down the road. Later that evening, Bill and Jessica run into each other as they are both leaving to go out. They have a nice, if boring, exchange about what each of their plans are for the evening. Sam shows up at his adoptive parents’ home and asks for his real parents names. His adoptive mother says they’re not bad people just because they didn’t look for him when he ran off years ago. His adoptive father is bedridden but gives him the information he’s looking for on a piece of paper. Hoyt shows up at Bill’s house with flowers for Jessica, but she is at a truck stop making out with a trucker. Hoyt leaves the flowers at the door, while Jessica takes a little bite out of the unsuspecting trucker.

In Merlotte’s parking lot, Andy is confronted by a confused and guilt-ridden Eggs. He is holding the sacrificial knife and is telling Andy about the people he killed. Andy tries to talk sense into him by saying he was under Maryann’s spell, but Eggs won’t listen. He gets highly agitated and advances towards him, pushing Andy to the ground. Jason arrives on the scene and mistakenly thinks Eggs is going to hurt Andy. (My interpretation.) Jason shoots Eggs in the head. Jason tells Andy he’s never shot anyone before and Andy takes the gun from him. He tells Jason to listen to him and that Jason didn’t see anything, he wasn’t there, and to get the hell out of there, as he wipes the gun of Jason’s fingerprints. People start coming out of Merlotte’s and Tara starts screaming when she realizes Eggs is dead. Andy tells them to call an ambulance and explains that Eggs confessed to being a killer and came after him with the murder weapon.

Bill takes Sookie to a fancy restaurant where he has rented the entire establishment just for the two of them. They share a dance together before dining. (I have to say that they dance great and look good together in this scene.) After Sookie enjoys the best meal of her life, Bill slides two plane tickets to Vermont across the table. As she asks why would they go to Vermont, Bill slides a ring box across the table. (She doesn’t look to thrilled about it either.) He proposes. She doesn’t answer at first. She says in her dreams she always says “yes”, but her life is inside out and she’s not sure about anything anymore. She doesn’t even know if she’s human. She starts crying. He tells her he wants her just as she is, and she says she doesn’t know what she is.

She runs to the bathroom and leaves him sitting alone at the table. In the bathroom, she stares at the ring and slides it on her finger. She looks at herself in the mirror for a minute and slowly smiles. Bill is sitting at the table with a thoughtful expression on his face when gloved hands holding a thick silver chain, trap his throat in a strangle hold. Sookie is in the bathroom smiling, primping, and re-applying her lipstick. She runs out and says “Yes! Yes Bill Compton, I will marry you!” Bill’s chair is knocked over, the French doors are open, and Bill is nowhere to be found.